I remember when I was in high school, in driver's ed, one of the things they told us is that if you're ever in a car driving and it starts to skid, that you would turn in the direction of the skid.
So if the car starts to skid off the road, you're supposed to turn the wheels in the direction of the skid.
And that always seemed against our natural instincts.
But to gain control of the car, they say you should do that.
Well, St. Paul says,
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.
And in my flesh I am filling up.
What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church.
And our goal is to participate in Christ's mission, his priesthood, actually.
And the role of a priest is to offer sacrifice.
And St. Paul rejoices to participate in that priesthood, in that mission.
And saints throughout history,
also have rejoiced.
Like St. Maximilian Kolbe.
He was the Franciscan who,
he opposed the Nazis in newsletters and radio broadcasts.
He opposed them.
And St. Maximilian Kolbe was imprisoned by the Gestapo in February of 1941.
And shortly thereafter, he was transferred to Auschwitz.
And while he was at Auschwitz in July of 1941,
a man from Kolbe's barracks disappeared.
And this prompted the deputy camp commander
to choose ten men from his barracks to be starved to death.
Just one footnote.
The man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.
But in Orpheus,
the man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.
But in Orpheus,
the man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.
But in Orpheus,
order, the camp commander, in order to discourage escape attempts, he chose these 10 and to
be starved in the bunker. And when he chose one of the men, he cried out, my wife, my
children. And at that point, Father Colby stepped out of line and said, I am a Catholic
priest, and that I want to offer myself in his place. And he says, he's a father and
a young husband. And the Nazis accepted the exchange. So Father Colby went into the starvation
bunker with the nine other prisoners, and normally cries of cursing.
And vile language would be heard coming from that bunker. But on this occasion, it was
hymns and prayers rose from that starvation bunker. Father Colby ministered to each of
those prisoners as they prepared for death. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation,
Father Colby was the last survivor. And he was killed by an injection of
carbonic, carbolic acid. That willingness to share in the sufferings of Christ, I make up what is
lacking in the affliction of Christ for the sake of his body, the church. That's kind of the history
of the saints. One quote of a spiritual writer is, if we understood the value of suffering,
we would pursue pain rather than pleasure.
He says, if I have ever offended thee, wound me as my punishment. If I have always loved thee, wound
me as my reward. St. Maximilian Colby is called a martyr of charity. Because it's suffering and
charity that always coincide. The intersection of charity and suffering is
the foundation of power. St. Francis prayed for two things. Lord, give me a share of your sufferings.
Lord, give me a share of your love. St. John of the Cross had a favorite image of our Lord,
crowned with thorns and carrying his cross. And one day that image spoke to St. John. Our Lord said,
John, anything you want. I'll give you.
St. John of the Cross's response was only to suffer with you, to be despised by all, and to be thought of as nothing.
So that's the supernatural momentum of Calvary, of grace.
We have as standard equipment the momentum of Eden towards sin.
Our fallen human nature is inclined in the wrong direction.
But by God's grace, we have this supernatural push, a rush of grace toward the cross, toward Calvary.
St. Catherine of Siena says that nothing unites two hearts more closely than the sharing of the same suffering.
The goal of the cross is to unite us to Christ, not to distance us from him.
So nothing unites two.
Nothing unites two hearts more closely than the sharing of the same suffering.
So we pray that the crosses we experience might be embraced and even rejoiced in,
and that the good that God wants to bring through them, our growth in grace, might be accomplished.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.